M10 TANN4120 01 SE C10 - usheproduction

10

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

� Explain and describe the difference between salessupervision, management, and leadership.

� Identify the skills and abilities a person needs tobecome a good sales manager.

� Understand the elements of teamwork and how tosuccessfully develop and work with teams, includ-ing those that are virtual.

� Recognize the ethical challenges facing leaders andteams in the sales environment.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

SUPERVISING,MANAGING, ANDLEADING SALESPEOPLEINDIVIDUALLY AND IN TEAMS

What does it take to manage and lead salespeople individually or as a team?

Do you use the same skills for a new hire that you use with an established sales

veteran? It’s not the same answer for every person or every occasion. A new

hire might require close supervision, whereas when developing a sales proposal

that involves gathering and analyzing large amounts of information from sev-

eral sources, the supervision of employees might best be handled through del-

egation and teamwork. In other situations, the sales manager needs to take

the lead and lay out the vision or plan for their sales force to follow. While

there may be differences of opinion as to whether a sales manager supervises,

manages, or leads his or her sales force, there is agreement that all these

behaviors are needed in developing a successful sales organization.

218

M10_TANN4120_01_SE_C10.QXD 9/18/08 7:33 PM Page 218

219

What surprised Katherine Twells the most about her transition from a salesperson forCoca-Cola to a leadership position might not be typical of most new sales managers. Itwasn’t the new title, compensation, or changes in her office space. She was surprised byhow much she enjoyed working with people. “I absolutely love working with people in ateaching role and helping them develop professionally,” says Twells.

Twells started out working at a bank as a management trainee and after a couple monthsfound she was “under-challenged.” With some coaxing from a college professor, she decided toaccept a sales position with Coca-Cola. She initially began working a territory with 1,500 restau-rants, moved into larger territories and regional accounts, and then became a sales manager.Today, she is responsible for Coca-Cola’s food service division in the state of California. She man-ages an organization of 60 professionals, including seven area directors and a distribution man-ager. “I now lead leaders,” she says. In her positions, Twells has been instrumental in terms ofleading cross-functional teams and in developing national leadership training programs for Coca-Cola’s sales associates.

This might seem like a bit of a stretch for a person who was initially a little hesitant to go intosales. With each promotion at Coca-Cola, Twells has taken on more responsibility and account-ability. Ten years ago when the opportunity in sales management came along, she again needed alittle coaxing to take it. She recalls asking herself, “Why do I want to manage others? I like sell-ing!” In retrospect, this is a decision she is glad she made.

As a new manager, she found out that she had to get comfortable getting things donethrough others—and not doing it herself. She had to remember that everyone has a different wayof doing things and that you have to learn that just because it may not be the way you wouldapproach the situation, you can’t interfere. Twells knows the importance of being a coach anddeveloping sales representatives who can act independently and as a team. Coaching is some-thing you do every day. Good managers are constantly coaching and giving feedback to the peo-ple who report to them directly or indirectly. You have to focus on their behaviors, and you needto be concerned about their goals. “As a sales manager, an important part of my job is to servethose I work with,” she says.

VICE PRESIDENT, THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, CALIFORNIA SALES REGION

KATHERINE TWELLS


220 PART FIVE • PROCESS MANAGEMENT

Twells describes her leadership style as authentic, collaborative, and empowering. Goodleaders really need to know and understand the people they work with as individuals. Youneed to learn their strengths and capitalize on them—as they work independently and in teamsituations. And finally, you need to trust them. There is no snap way to doing things, she says.“Leadership is an art that you work on daily.”

One of the most difficult responsibilities that a new manager deals with is the perfor-mance issues of her salespeople. “You think ‘I can fix this person’—but most of the time youcan’t. There comes a point where you risk ‘over helping’ someone. Sometimes people are justin the wrong job.” Another area that can be a bit uncomfortable for most managers is dealingwith and addressing conflict. “No one I know ever looks forward to doing that.”

Twells explains that even though salespeople primarily work alone, getting them to shareinformation and work well as a team is important. “People who operate as if they are on anisland aren’t successful. It is critical to be able to be a team player—you must be in touch withothers.” She also recommends working with and being a mentor. She has benefited frominformal mentors both inside and outside of Coca-Cola. “Mentors have helped to give me per-spective—I’ve found them to be beneficial in providing insight about how to keep my balancein situations that may lie ahead. They sometimes have the ability to look around the corner andlet you know what’s coming.” ■

In Chapter 3 we discussed leadership theories and different approaches to conceptualiz-ing leadership. At this point we will extend that knowledge base and explore new skillsets as you examine the activities of supervision, managing, and leading to see how

they fit into a sales manager’s position. Additionally, we’ll examine elements of how salesmanagers incorporate coaching in their daily activities. Finally, as part of this discussion,we will also examine mentoring and what elements help make teamwork effective—bothin person and in virtual settings.

SupervisingSupervision is generally used today to refer to time spent working with employees to becertain they are aware of the responsibilities of their job and how to perform them cor-

rectly. Because of the independent nature of the sales job, most of thesupervisory activities sales managers engage in occur when they’reworking with new hires. This seemingly simple and potentially time-consuming task should not be taken lightly, as it is a critical elementof a sales manager’s responsibilities. Supervision was an importantelement in a manager’s position when “management” was first stud-ied, and it continues to be in the twenty-first century.

Today, the term supervisor is seldom heard, yet the act of supervis-ing is no less important than it was a century ago. Sales managers—and sometimes sales trainers—spend time supervising people per-forming new tasks. They observe and then offer suggestions forimproving their performance if needed. Their presence can helpensure that if the salesperson needs assistance, he or she gets it.Whatever you want to call it, supervising involves lots of “hands-on” time. Mark Baranczyk, the midwest regional sales manager for

the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, spends about three days each week in thefield with his sales representatives providing personalized supervision. During this time,he reviews the objectives of the call and helps out reps if he’s needed. If a call goes well,

New hires need supervisingto ensure they understandwhat to tell customers(Comstock Complete)


CHAPTER 10 • SUPERVISING, MANAGING, AND LEADING SALESPEOPLE 221

he’ll hold back on participating during the visit and offer a review of the representative’sperformance during a “curbside coaching and counseling” session. SometimesBaranczyk will know the representative is having difficulties achieving an objective witha client. During calls such as these, he takes a more active role helping to answer ques-tions, providing insight, and overcoming the client’s objections. At times like these,Baranczyk needs to use coaching skills to help the salesperson identify and correct anyshortcomings they have identified. We present more information about coaching later inthis chapter.

Sometimes managers don’t supervise new hires; more experienced sales personnel do.Some companies refer to people such as this as a first-level manager.1 Another source ofsupervisory assistance sales managers use is technology. If a company is using a CRM sys-tem, a supervisor can track an employee’s daily activities. This information can provide asales manager with insight about how an employee is progressing with his or her cus-tomers, whether or not the person is achieving his or her objectives during calls, and usinghis or her time wisely.

ManagingMore experienced sales personnel usually don’t require supervision. They do, however,require that someone, like their sales manager, manage their work responsibilities andthose of other sales force members in order to achieve the goals of their organizationalunit. In this section we look at activities involved with managing a sales force from twodifferent perspectives: from the sales manager’s perspective and the sales representative’sperspective.

Managing the sales force requires the sales manager to be skilled in several areasincluding: setting objectives, organizing the tasks necessary to achieve them, motivatingthe sales force, and problem solving. Although the goals of the organization are set byexecutive officers, most managers are charged with setting the objectives of their unit tomeet the goals of the organization and developing a budget to support them. Wayne Nashis the national account sales manager for LDPI, Inc., a company that manufactures com-mercial lighting fixtures for hazardous, wet and clean room applications. The company’ssales goals are set by LDPI’s vice president of sales and marketing. Nash works with aregional sales manager, three sales engineers, and a large number of independent sales rep-resentatives and distributors located across the United States and North America. He isresponsible for planning how the sales force will work to achieve the company’s salesgoals. He sets sales objectives for each sales unit and individual sales rep. He then allocateshis budget in a manner that will support accomplishing the objectives he has laid out. If hiscompany wants to increase its sales by 5 percent, Nash might, forexample, look at marketing research showing potential market seg-ments underserved by the company. To help educate potential buyersabout LDPI’s products, he could set aside resources to purchaseadvertisements in industry magazines, mail materials to a select groupof customers, send personnel to participate in appropriate tradeshows, and offer a financial incentive for sales made to new customersin this new market segment.

The next set of management responsibilities focuses on organiz-ing and staffing the sales force. The sales manager must make deci-sions about how to organize the work and who is going to handleeach task. This may range from broader-level decisions, such asdeciding how to organize the sales force (for example, by industry,geography, or product line) to more narrow-level decisions, such as

Managing a sales forceinvolves planning,analysis, and organizing(Photos.com)



assigning specific salespeople to specific clients. It might also require making decisionsabout how to divide responsibilities for a team-based selling effort—for example, decid-ing who should handle outbound calls to qualify prospects, who should meet and presentproducts to clients, and who should follow up to offer them sales support.

Sales managers also typically play an important role when it comes to staffing.Oftentimes they work very closely with their human resources department to recruit andselect new sales force members. At other times, they leave most of the recruiting andscreening activities to their human resource department, which then refers the top candi-dates to the sales managers for consideration and final hire or no-hire decisions.

Certainly making sure sales representatives have an incentive to do their jobs well isalso an important task for the sales manager to perform (see Chapter 12); so is training anddeveloping sales representatives (see Chapter 9) as well as coaching them.

The last set of management responsibilities involves measuring and analyzing theperformance of the sales force and, when needed, taking corrective action in order tomeet the initial objectives. (This aspect is discussed in more detail in Chapter 11.) Inessence, this is problem solving. If LDPI was trying to capture wastewater treatmentplants as potential new customers, for example, Nash would need to measure the extentof sales activities aimed at this group by determining how many inquiries resulted fromthe ads he placed, how many and what quality of prospects were identified at tradeshows, and where potential customers were in the buying process. After analyzing thedata, he might determine that although LDPI has improved its visibility among thesebuyers, the company’s representatives still need to spend a greater amount of time famil-iarizing the buyers with the company. In order to help his representatives accomplish thistask, he might encourage LDPI’s marketing department to engage in new promotionalactivities, such as placing additional advertisements in other industry publications, or,for example, using a small, outbound call center to make follow-up calls to trade showattendees.

If Nash further learned that the sales force was requesting more information on theneeds of the wastewater treatment industry and the regulations it’s subject to, he againwould have to respond. Suppose, for example, that after hearing reports such as this fromthe field, he learns that different chemicals are used in different climates (Florida versusMinnesota) and that different states have more stringent regulations than others. As a resultof these differences, he might decide that further training of the sales representatives isneeded immediately. It might be that, after overcoming these obstacles, he then learns thatthere are certain times of the year when municipalities are more likely to make a purchase.At this point he might decide to offer reps a 60-day bonus plan during these times of theyear to motivate them to concentrate their efforts on these potential buyers. With eachpiece of information he gains, he manages his personnel and budget to accomplish thegoals of his sales force.

Sources of PowerTo accomplish their goals, sales managers need power, which can stem from differentsources. While studying the workings of teams, two French psychologists, French andRaven, developed a classification of power bases that team leaders used to reward orpunish their team members.2 The amount of power a leader had with their team varieddepending on the composition of the team and the skill set of the individual manager orleader. Some of the sources of power may be the result of a formal structure, or they mayalso be acquired through informal structures. Exhibit 10.1 displays the bases of power.

Formal power is given on the basis of the position a person holds in an organization.It is the authority an individual is given to accomplish his or her job. The formal bases of



Formal Bases of Power

• Legitimate• Reward• Coercive• Informational

Informal Bases of Power

Manager/Leader• Expert• Referent• Charismatic

EXHIBIT 10.1

Bases of Power for aManager and Leader

power are legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, and informational power.Legitimate power is the power given to a particular position. For sales managers, thistypically would include the power to make decisions regarding issues of employment,budgeting, and any other decisions they need to make to accomplish the tasks under theirresponsibility. A national sales manager has more legitimate power than a regional salesmanager, who will have more power than a district sales manager.

Reward power is the ability to distribute rewards. The rewards might include provid-ing reps with more desirable territories (perhaps involving less travel), different compensa-tion levels, gifts, benefits, promotions, job titles, and accoutrements related to their workenvironment, such as, company cars and nicer offices. Praise and recognition are alsoconsidered rewards, even more so when material rewards are not readily available. Theopposite of reward power is coercive power. This stems from the ability of the sales man-ager to withhold rewards. It could also include making negative verbal comments to orabout a salesperson. When coercive power is used, it typically builds resentment and resis-tance on the part of the recipient(s). As you might expect, it is the least effective form ofpower.

Informational power is power a leader derives from the ability to access and controlinformation that other people don’t have. If only the sales manager has a great deal ofinformation about the sales process or sales organization, the person’s representatives willbe dependent upon the manager and will have to contact the individual for assistance atmultiple points during a sales cycle. Thus, the manager will have power over the represen-tatives. More effective organizations encourage the sharing of information throughout thesales organization. Customer relationship management systems are designed for this verypurpose, in fact. The more information sales representatives have, the more empoweredthey are to do their jobs.

Informal power is power that an individual has as a result of his or her skills, per-sonality, or geniality. These bases are expert power, referent power, and charismaticpower. People who possess informal power can actually exert more influence over othergroup members than a person with only formal power. Expert power is power based ona person’s knowledge, skills, and expertise. Sales managers who are skilled in the vari-ous aspects of selling the product, solving customer problems, and managing theiraccounts have expert power. Referent power is based on the degree to which a personis liked due to his or her personality and interpersonal skills. A sales manager who iswell-liked and admired based on their personal attributes will have a high level of refer-ent power. When an individual is strongly admired based on their personality, physicalattractiveness, and other factors, that individual may have what is referred to ascharismatic power. A person with charismatic power over their group members isoften able to induce them to accomplish the most. For example, sales managers withcharismatic power might have the ability to revitalize and encourage their sales forcesto succeed even against seemingly insurmountable odds. However, if this power is usedin a negative way, it can result in sales representatives engaging in unethical sales



ETHICS IN SALES MANAGEMENT

What Are the Traits of a Bad Leader?Ideally, leaders work to achieve good outcomes. However, we all know of leaderswho are either incapable of achieving those outcomes or work toward outcomesthat benefit themselves versus their organizations or the general public. Forexample, in one highly publicized incident during the high-tech boom, the salesmanagers in a prominent brokerage firm encouraged their salespeople to sellstocks to customers that they knew weren’t likely to perform well. They did sobecause the commissions earned on those particular stocks were higher.

• Research has shown that there are seven traits associated with bad leaders. Thetraits are as follows:• Incompetent: The leader and at least some of his or her followers lack the

will or skill to sustain effective action.• Rigid: The leader and at least some of his or her followers are stiff, unyielding,

and unwilling to adapt to new ideas, new information, or changing times.• Intemperate: The leader lacks self-control and is aided and abetted by fol-

lowers who do not intervene.• Callous: The leader is uncaring or unkind and ignores or discounts the needs

of the rest of the organization.• Corrupt: The leader lies, cheats, or steals and puts his or her self-interest

above all else.• Insular: The leader disregards or at least minimizes the health and welfare

of those outside a small center group.• Evil: The leader disregards the worth of others. Some leaders, and at least

some followers, commit atrocities.

Source: Based on Kellerman, Barbara (2001). Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why ItMatters. Harvard Business School Press.

practices, too. An example would be a manager who encouraged his or her sales forceto misrepresent their firm’s product characteristics to potential buyers so as to increasethe company’s sales volumes. The Ethics in Sales Management feature in this chapteroffers some examples of this occurring.

Which form of power is most effective for a sales manager to use? Without some for-mal power, sales managers have a very limited ability to direct the efforts of their sales rep-resentatives. However, sales managers with only formal power might find that their salesrepresentatives are just minimally dedicated to their jobs. Those sales managers who areable to utilize more informal power bases, in concert with their formal power bases, willlikely find themselves with sales reps who actually want to work for them.

As a sales manager, you need to think about the various power bases and how youcan develop and effectively use them. Bruce Hanson is a regional sales manager forMoore Wallace, a printing company with worldwide locations. Hanson utilizes a vari-ety of types of power. He has legitimate power based on his position, reward power toaffect the compensation his reps receive, the ability to hand out praise to reinforce theirbehaviors, and, if needed, he can use coercive power to attempt to correct the actions ofrepresentatives. Lastly, he can utilize informational power, especially with newer hires,to help guide them through a selling situation that requires a great deal of insight andexperience.


Myth Reality

Biggest misperception of the new role: Authority:

“Now I will have the freedom to implement my ideas.”

Interdependency:“It’s humbling that someone who works for me could get me fired.”

Source of Power: Based on Formal authority:“I will finally be on top of the ladder.”

Based on Informal Power:“Employees are wary of their managers. You really need to earn their respect.”

Desired Outcome: Control:“I must get compliance from my subordinates.”

Commitment:“Compliance does not equal commitment.“

Managerial Focus: Managing one-on-one:“My role is to build relationships with my individual subordinates.”

Leading the team:“I need to create a culture what will allow the group to fulfill its potential.”

Key Challenge: Keeping the operation in working order:“My job is to make sure the operation runssmoothly.”

Making changes that will make the team perform better:“I am responsible for initiating changes to enhance the group’s performance.”

EXHIBIT 10.2

Perceptions of New Managers: Myths vs. Realities

Source: Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. From “Becoming the Boss,” Linda A. Hill, Vol. 85, No. 1, January2007, Copyright @2006 by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation; all rights reserved.


Hanson is also very knowledgeable about printing and enjoysworking with his sales representatives. They look to him for guidance.In other words, he has power as an expert. He makes sure that hespends time not just working with his employees but also socializingwith them—whether it is over a meal, at a ballgame, or a companyfunction. His representatives enjoy working with him and, as a result,he also has referent power and charismatic power he can use toaccomplish his managerial goals.

The Up-Close Perspective: Becoming the BossUsing power is one area that new managers often struggle with asthey transition into their new positions. Studies of new managers indi-cate that the assumptions they hold about what it is like to become theboss often are not accurate.3 Findings indicate that the skills requiredto be a good manager are different from those of being a star performer. Many sales man-agers are promoted because of their sales ability and not their management skills. Lookingback on the first group of sales representatives he managed, Dave Anderson, who was asales manager with automotive dealerships, comments, “I am so, so sorry. I didn’t knowwhat I was doing,” Anderson’s comments are not that uncommon. Few new sales man-agers know what challenges lie ahead for them.4

A summary of these myths or misperceptions is contained in Exhibit 10.2. The biggestmisperception of many new managers is that their jobs will revolve around implementingtheir own ideas. In reality, they find that it is more about working together and combiningeveryone’s ideas. Another misperception is that power will come from their position;instead they find out that it comes more from their informal bases of power: Controllingpeople is not nearly as important as getting their commitment. And finally, sales managerslearn that it’s not just about working with individuals to keep things going, but clearing the

Becoming a salesmanager presents manynew challenges peopledon’t necessarily face assales representatives(Photos.com)



path of obstacles so your team will make great achievements. Recognizing these commonmisperceptions can help new sales managers develop into their new roles.

As a new leader, experts recommend that it is best to make a low-key entry. Thisgives you time to learn the ropes, develop relationships, and benefit from the wisdom ofthose who have preceded you. It also gives your employees time to demonstrate what theyknow and you a chance to show your appreciation for the contributions of each of them.As leadership expert Warren Bennis puts it, “It shows that you are a leader, not a dictator”(pp. 49).5

Once established in their positions, sales managers must always work to improve andexpand their expertise in terms of their people management skills. There are volumes ofbooks written on this topic. The following is a summary of one manager’s suggestion ofimportant behaviors that managers should demonstrate to the salespeople who directlyreport to him.6 These are behaviors that a new sales manager should find actionable andthey would serve him well.

1. Clarify the direction your business is taking. Managers need to communicate clearlywhere the business is headed, why, and how employees will contribute to it. By dis-cussing this, people have a better perspective of the issues facing the organizationand how they fit in.

2. Set goals and objectives. Without goals and objectives, sales managers are just mak-ing assumptions about their progress. Goals and objectives should be set at both theteam and individual level. Doing a good job of establishing them will make bonusand merit incentive performance decisions clearer and easier to communicate to yourindividual representatives.

3. Give frequent, specific, and immediate feedback. This shows you are interested inthe development of your representatives, how you think they are performing, and, ifneed be, how to improve their performance. It will also make the performance evalu-ation discussions go more smoothly.

4. Be decisive and timely. After you have the information you need, your salespeopleexpect you to make a decision in a timely manner. This helps your reps move for-ward instead of wondering how they should proceed.

5. Be accessible. If, as a sales manager, you expect your sales representatives to keepyou informed, you need to be available when they need to see you. This can be donein person, by phone, or electronically.

6. Demonstrate honesty and candor. When sales managers communicate with theirrepresentatives, especially during performance appraisals, they should use languagethat is specific and not vague. Masking the truth doesn’t help people develop.

7. Offer an equitable compensation plan. Good goals and clear communications willhelp people understand how they are being rewarded for their efforts.

The Sales Representative’s Perspective:What It Takes to Be a Good Sales ManagerSo what does it take to be considered a good sales manager by your sales representatives?Perspectives differ depending upon what position you are viewing things from. Whengroups of sales representatives were asked what characteristics help make a sales managergood, they were able to identify some common themes.7,8,9,10 The following is a summaryof the characteristics they identified.

1. Is flexible. Good sales managers need to be able to balance the demands of handlingbusiness issues one minute and then shifting gears to direct and coach people thenext. They have to work through people and not do the job themselves.



2. Is a good communicator. This means being available to give timely and frequentfeedback. When sales representatives need help, it usually means they need immedi-ate help as opposed to feedback a couple of days later. Good managers have an open-door policy and don’t mind being interrupted. They respond to e-mails the same dayand return missed phone calls the day they come in.

3. Works for the good of the team. Good sales managers don’t put their needs ahead ofthose of the team. They shift the spotlight from themselves so that it focuses on theirteam and team members. They take satisfaction from the accomplishments of theirgroups.

4. Is considered trustworthy. Over time, through actions and examples, a good salesmanager is able to develop an atmosphere of trust. Sales representatives are comfort-able sharing information with the manager because they know that the person will dowhat is best for them and will respect their individual wishes.

5. Can motivate and lead the team. Good sales managers help their teams conquer thechallenges they face by keeping their teams motivated via informal actions (forexample, by offering feedback to their reps on a personal basis) and formal actions (for example, by recognizing their representatives publicly).

LeadingResearch shows that a poor sales manager can literally cost a company millions of dollarsin lost sales opportunities (one research study places this number at $10 to 20 millionannually). For example, two-thirds of sales vice presidents surveyed indicated that 40 percentof their sales leaders were not meeting expectations and cited a lack of leadership andcoaching skills as the source of their failure. Dissatisfaction with one’s boss is, in fact, thenumber one sales representative complaint.11 Another study conducted by the ForumCorporation found that a firm’s sales managers “figured prominently” in the success oftheir sales force—that a sales force whose manager thinks strategically, provides coachingand feedback to his salespeople, and creates a motivating environment perform much bet-ter than others. The respondents noted, however, that sales managers were often promotedbecause they were high-performing sales representatives—not because of their managerialabilities.

The qualifications required by sales managers are changing though. Firms aredemanding a higher level of leadership and management skills than in the past. “We havechanged the first-line sales manager’s role to become more of a training andcoaching/development role versus a super salesman,” one survey respondent said. Giventhe extent to which a firm’s success is determined by its sales managers, the remainder ofthis section examines a promising new leadership approach and some skill sets that newsales managers should develop.12

A New School of Managerial Thought?In the last part of the twentieth century, leadership studies identified a classic, two-factorapproach that focused on the tasks and relationship behaviors of leaders. These approachesare labeled transactional leadership because they focus on an exchange, of some nature,between leaders and their followers—for example, leaders giving promotions and/orbonuses to sales representatives who meet their sales goals.

More recently there has been a movement toward a transformational leadershipapproach to leadership. “It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, andlong-term goals and includes assessing followers’ motives, satisfying their needs, and



treating them as human beings” (p. 176). Transformational leaders focus on the needs andmotives of their employees and try to help them reach their fullest potential.13 These lead-ers also exhibit emotional intelligence.14 Emotional intelligence includes one’s ability tounderstand and manage the emotions of other people in light of their own. The underlyingpremise is that people who are more sensitive to their emotions and understand the impactof their emotions on others will be more effective leaders” (p. 23).15 Emotional intelli-gence includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.Exhibit 10.3 describes these abilities.16 Leaders with high levels of emotional intelligencecreate environments that foster trust, reasonable amounts of risk taking, and higher levelsof productivity. Low levels of emotional intelligence in a work environment foster fearand anxiety.17 Generally, as people mature, their emotional intelligence increases.

A leader’s “emotional style” impacts the culture of the person’s organization or workenvironment. Those leaders with high levels of emotional intelligence create environ-ments that foster trust, team building, and healthy risk taking and higher levels of produc-tivity. Low levels of emotional intelligence in a work environment foster fear andanxiety.16

Note that Katherine Twells, who was profiled at the beginning of the chapter, finds hergreatest rewards in being a developer of her employees’ talent. In her description of herleadership style, you can see that it reflects several of the components of emotional intelli-gence, including self-awareness, motivation, empathy, and social skills:

I think it is important to understand yourself and what you want from your job first.Use that as a foundation and the rest comes more easily. You have to bring in theright people, understand how to use them, create synergies, and be sincere about it. Ibelieve that people are the best asset of an organization—but you need to understandhow to motivate them to get the best results. . . . As a sales manager, an importantpart of my job is to serve those I work with.

Skills or Abilities Hallmarks

Self-Management Skills

Self-Awareness: The ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and what drives you, as well as how they affect others

Self-confidenceRealistic self-assessmentA self-deprecating sense of humor

Self-Regulation: The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods. The propensity to suspend judgment—to think before acting

Trustworthiness and integrityComfort with ambiguityOpenness to change

Motivation: A passion to work for reasons that go beyond money or status. A propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence

A strong drive to achieveOptimismOrganizational commitment

The Ability to Relate to Others

Empathy: The ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. The skill in responding to people depending upon their emotional reactions

Expertise in building and retainingtalentCross-cultural sensitivityService to clients and customers

Social Skill: Proficiency in managing relationship and building networks. An ability to find common ground and build rapport

Effectiveness in leading changePersuasivenessExpertise in building and leadingteams

Source: Reprinted bypermission of HarvardBusiness Review. From“What Makes a Leader?”by Daniel GolemanJanurary 1, 2004.Copyright ©2004 by theHarvard Business SchoolPublishing Corporation;all rights reserved.

EXHIBIT 10.3

The Hallmarks of EmotionalIntelligence



What Leadership Competencies Do Sales Managers Need?The studies we discussed in this chapter suggest that sales managers today need to focuson and develop better leadership skills than in the past. According to the responses of salesvice presidents, many sales managers appear to be unprepared to play this role.18 Thehighest-performing sales organizations rely heavily on their sales managers to providerepresentatives with ongoing coaching and feedback. In fact, it is a key predictor of thesuccess an organization will achieve. In addition to developing their coaching skills, twoother leadership development methods, which have increasingly been utilized over thepast 20 years are mentoring and working in teams.19 We will look at these activities next.

CoachingWhat image comes to mind when you hear the word coaching? Perhaps you envisionsomeone involved in athletics or the arts. Can you imagine a performer or team trying toperfect their performance without the benefit of someone giving them feedback? No doubtyou have probably tried performing some activity without the advice of a coach or teacher.Contrast that performance with one in which you received feedback. As you probablyknow, the value of a coach can be significant.

Coaching salespeople is not that much different than coaching athletes or performers.A study of over 1,000 firms found that salespeople who receive at least one-half day aweek, one-on-one with their managers are twice as productive as other salespeople.20 Aswe mentioned earlier in the chapter, Mark Baranczyk, a regional sales manager for theJacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, spends about three days each week in the fieldworking with his sales representatives. During and after each of the sales calls, Markcoaches each of his representatives. This includes asking them questions about their per-formance, offering positive feedback and advice, perhaps setting aside time for practice,and setting future performance-related goals for them.

For sales coaching to be effective, a sales manager should follow severalguidelines:21,22

1. Prepare and observe. Let your sales representatives know you are joining them toobserve them and offer your feedback. Make sure you understand the objectives ofthe calls they are making. Watch for nonverbal communication and listen carefully.

2. Give feedback. Avoid asking your sales representatives “yes” or “no” questions abouthow well they performed. Instead, ask them open-ended questions such as the follow-ing: “What other options could you have offered the customer when she objected tothe product’s price?” Be specific when pointing out a person’s good selling skills andthose that could be improved. Telling a representative that “You should take more ini-tiative” is not as helpful as telling the person something like the following: “When thebuyer didn’t know if there was a good fit between the two systems, it probably wouldhave been a good idea to ask her to explain where the fit was ‘off’ or ask her to try touse our product during a no-cost trial period.” Focus on improving your reps’ skillsrather than dwelling on things they did incorrectly. Provide the feedback as soon afterthe observation as possible.

3. Be a role model. Modeling or demonstrating the desired behaviors and letting yourrepresentatives model that behavior is a powerful way of coaching people. Explainhow and why you did the things you did. Give your representatives the opportunity to use the same tactics you did.

4. Follow-up. Demonstrate to your representatives that you follow up—in other words,that you do what you say you will do.



5. Trust. When there are high levels of trust between sales representatives and theirsales managers, the relationships will be more productive than those relationshipsthat lack trust.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how great a coach a sales manager is. It still might notbe enough. An example might be a case in which a sales representative is excessivelyabsent, misses appointments and deadlines, experiences numerous customer com-plaints, or even is involved in auto accidents. This could indicate that the salesperson’son-the-job performance is being impacted by other factors that no amount of coachingwill cure. It might be that the salesperson just needs a little time off to deal with somepressing personal issues. However, when a pattern of these behaviors develops, it maybe time for the sales manager to see if the salesperson needs professional counseling.The representative could be experiencing marital or family problems, financial stress,or health or substance abuse issues. In cases such as these, the sales manager shouldseek the confidential assistance of his or her human resources personnel. These peoplecan help evaluate whether the representative needs professional help, and if so, help theperson get it.

MentoringMany firms are encouraging sales managers to not only be a mentor but to also have amentor. Mentoring is a long-term relationship in which a senior person supports the per-sonal and professional development of a junior person.23 The mentor concept has its ori-gins in Greek mythology. When King Odysseus was about to fight in the Trojan War,Mentor, an elderly friend, was charged by the king to watch over the hero’s son,Telemachus. Mentor provided insights to his younger protégée that only an elder, moreexperienced person could.24

A mentor is the term used to describe a person who acts as a teacher or trustworthyadvisor. The mentor typically does not have a reporting relationship with the person theyare mentoring. Their relationship can be formally established by an organization or devel-

oped more informally.Camellia Poplarski is a regional sales director for the drug maker Eli Lilly. Eli

Lilly is a firm believer in the merits of being and having mentors. Typically a personbeing mentored benefits from being given the perspective of someone who has already“been there and done that.” Mentors can help those whom they mentor with everythingfrom the proper procedures they should follow to career advice. As Poplarski sees it,“It gives you a leg up because you learn things that are not in any book.” Mentoringhelps younger representatives become more knowledgeable about the marketplace, thefirm for which they are selling, and its products. Having a mentor program can alsogive a company an advantage when it’s recruiting new sales reps.25 Experts recom-mend that if your organization does not have a formal mentoring program in place, youshould seek out an individual several levels above you—someone whom you trust andadmire and ask him or her if they would serve in a mentoring capacity to you.Mentoring “sessions” are usually very informal and occur several times a year or whenneeded.

Traditionally there were two times when it was thought best to have a mentoringrelationship. The first was when someone was just beginning their career (they learnedwhat to expect) and the second was when senior sales personnel had reached a plateauin their career (they benefited from offering their counsel to new hires). Research hasalso shown that sales managers who were mentored by managers inside their firms areless likely to leave the firm and perform better than those sales managers with peer men-tors, outsider mentors, or no mentors.26

Having and being amentor can help developleadership skills (GettyImages, Inc.—Stockbyte)



The Ability to Organize and Work Effectively with TeamsHistorically, sales representatives have worked independently. However, with the morecomplex products and services firms are offering, the increased use of supply chainmanagement, and a more global marketplace, firms are finding there are more situationsin which their sales personnel must work in teams. Some organizations now assign asales team to their key, or national accounts. To develop better product solutions for thebuyer, a team might be comprised of representatives from several functional areas, suchas sales, product development, operations, and customer service.27,28

Greg Shortell is the president and CEO of Network Engines, a company that makesserver applications installed on computer hardware or packaged with it. Shortell says hiscompany has moved from product-based sales to solution-based sales. “You need in-depth specialized knowledge . . . that goes right through all the steps from requirements todelivery—and different people have to fill those needs,” he explains. For example, a“prospecting” representative might work to identify and qualify leads before handingthem off to a “sales” representative who would establish face-to-face communicationswith prospective customers. At this point, a specialist involved with the development ofthe product would talk to the customers about the fit of the product with their firms. Ifa sale were completed, the client might then be turned over to a “customer service andfollow-up” team member whose job it is to ensure that the products are delivered on timeand meet the customer’s quality expectations.29

Just working with other people does not make your group a team, however. A teamis a small group of people with complementary skills, who, as such, are able to collec-tively complete a project in a superior way. They are committed to a common goal.Members interact with each other and the leader and depend on each other’s input to per-form their own work. Those teams that are empowered to handle an ongoing task are con-sidered self-managed teams. A project team is organized around a unique task of limitedduration and is disbanded when the task is completed.30

Sales managers working with teams will fare better if they take the time to structureand organize the teams when they are initially established. If they don’t take the time to doso, the team will likely struggle. An initial “orientation” type of meeting in which the teammembers learn about each other’s skills and the team’s goals is often a good idea. Theresponsibilities, tasks, and leaders of the teams should be clearly assigned so that everyone

Putting together salesteams and managing themis becoming moreimportant for a salesmanager to do today(Comstock Complete)

s SELF-ASSESSMENT LIBRARY

No doubt in some of your courses you have had opportunities to work in smallgroups and teams. To develop team-building and leadership skills takes practiceand experience. You can improve some of these skills with practice and by utiliz-ing many of the behaviors discussed in this section. To assess your team-buildingand leadership skills, go to http:/ /www. prenhall. com/ sal/ and log in using youraccess code. Then click on:

AssessmentsII. Working with OthersB. Leadership and Team Skills6. How Good Am I at Building and Leading a Team?

Your score on this instrument will provide you with a general idea of how yourteam-building skills compare to those of 500 business students.



understands what is expected of them and who “owns” the different aspects of differentaccounts or projects. Another important element of successful teams is sharing client com-munications. Contact management systems can be used for this purpose. Sales managersalso need to make sure the team has the right people with the right skills and is only aslarge as it needs to be. Make sure that reward systems are in place that will motivate theindividual efforts of people on the teams as well as the teams as a whole. Poorly designedreward systems for teams are a frequent reason why they fail.31

Being a Team MemberOnce you have a team up and running, what should you expect from them—or what’sexpected from you as a member of a management team? Again, we will provide a shortsummary of some actionable behaviors a new sales manager (and team members) shouldconsider engaging in when working with their teams.32

1. Get involved. This is particularly important when someone falls behind on their com-mitments, especially because of important personnel issues or crisis situations.

2. Generate ideas. Team members who contribute innovative and creative ideas areharder to find than those who opt not to contribute.

3. Be willing to collaborate. You might not enjoy working with all of your colleagues,but you need to be able to work with them for the benefit of the organization.

4. Be willing to lead initiatives. Future projects are full of uncertainties; being willingto take a risk is a valuable attribute.

5. Develop leaders as you develop. It is important to personally be involved in develop-ing your employees.

6. Stay current. Know what is going on in the world and with your customers and theirmarkets.

7. Anticipate market changes. Don’t sit back waiting for change to occur; plan for it.8. Drive your own growth. Constantly seek out education and self-development oppor-

tunities through the activities and assignments you are engaged in and in your per-sonal relationships.

9. Be a player for all seasons. Be open to change in good times and bad.

VIRTUAL TEAMS Oftentimes sales managers have personnel in different geographic loca-tions work in virtual teams. These people send and receive the majority of their communi-cations electronically as opposed to in person. Some sales managers, like Katherine Twellsat Coca-Cola, work virtually with their representatives and also in person with them.For others, such as Michael Muhlfelder of Pragmatech Software whose sales force iswidely dispersed, working at a distance is the norm. Muhlfelder uses e-mails, instant mes-saging, and weekly calls to communicate with his reps. Tips for working with virtual teamsinclude:

� Select the technology that works best for the team. Although some technologiesmight sound appealing, the majority of teams prefer to use an Intranet Web site withareas on team information and contacts and discussion and information posting.When needed, they will hold a teleconference.

� Communicate frequently. Most groups do so daily.� Track down members who aren’t participating. This is especially important during

the early life of the team when norms are being set. The leader of the virtual teamneeds to ensure that all members of the virtual team are participating in the process.

� Have agreed-upon ground rules for the team’s interaction. For example, require teammembers to answer e-mails within 24 hours, even if their replies are brief.33,34



Bill Febry, a former sales executive for Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, sayssales managers should “educate, motivate, and inspire.” However, he notes that he can’t dothat by e-mail: “As much as I’d like to see every one of my direct reports in person, when Ican’t, I make an effort to pick up the phone and speak with them personally—not an e-mail,not a recording on the voice mail.” In other words, in even the best virtual teams, there’s nosubstitute for personal contact. You can’t solely manage people electronically—at least notvery well.

The Future of Sales ManagementWhether sales managers are supervising, managing, and/or leading, they will always facechallenges. Business executives have identified five challenges for future leaders:35

1. Incorporate globalization/internationalization of leadership concepts. Sales leadersmust be comfortable and knowledgeable doing business in the international market-place (see Chapter 15).

GLOBAL SALES MANAGEMENT

Developing Global LeadersChapter 3 identified the need for companies to engage in cross-cultural leadershipresearch. That’s a good start, but the question remains: How do companies trans-late those findings into action? A Conference Board study found that 79 percentof the companies it surveyed are accelerating their global leadership developmentactivities. The survey identified several activities companies use to develop theirinternational leaders, specifically in the Asia-Pacific area.

The top programs used to develop business leaders in the Asia-Pacific regioninclude:

1. Internal management programs: 44 percent2. Company training programs: 40 percent3. International assignments greater than 2 years: 36 percent4. Mentoring and/or coaching: 33 percent5. Participation in cross-functional international teams: 33 percent

Some companies have gone beyond region-specific competencies to country-specific competencies. Agilent Technologies has identified the following China-specific leader competencies that will help focus both locals and expatriates workingin China:

1. Persuades effectively2. Builds networks and alliances3. Drives operational efficiency4. Communicates effectively5. Balances cultural sensitivities6. Demonstrates individual and organizational awareness.

Three recurring themes were 1.) collaboration, teamwork, communication;2.) alignment across borders; and 3.) people development and coaching.

Source: Based on Bell, Andrew N. (2006). Leadership Development in Asia-Pacific: Identifying andDeveloping Leaders for Growth. New York: The Conference Board.



2. Increase the integrity and character of leaders. Sales leaders of today need to behumble, team builders, and good communicators. Transformation leadership worksonly when leaders have a solid moral character and a concern for others, and demon-strate these through their actions.

3. Incorporate new ways of thinking about leadership. Leadership is shifting from afocus of individual leaders toward developing the capacity of all group members.

4. Integrate technology. Technology changes how we live and work; how informationis gathered, organized, and shared; and how we communicate. Leading a virtual teamlocated in different parts of the country and globe is a reality. Leaders will clearlyhave to be much more engaged and comfortable with technology.

5. Demonstrate return on investment. Leadership development activities—just likeother forms of training—must be able to demonstrate their effectiveness. Thoseaspiring to sales leadership positions would do well to use these challenges to guide their future directions.

Summary

In years past, many sales managers were promoted because of their excellent selling skills,with little regard for their management skills. Today, however, people know that sales man-agers with good managerial skills have a big impact on the success of firms. However,many organizations find that their sales managers lack these skills.

In terms of supervising their representatives, sales managers observe their representatives(more often, new hires) and then give them suggestions for improving their performance.A sales manager’s presence can help ensure that if the salesperson needs assistance, he orshe will get it. In some firms, more experienced sales personnel, called first-line managers,supervise new representatives.

There are a number of facets related to managing sales representatives. Although thegoals of a firm are generally set by its executive officers, most sales managers are chargedwith setting the objectives of their unit to meet those goals and develop the budgets to sup-port them. Sales managers are also responsible for organizing and staffing their units andanalyzing the performance of their representatives to make sure they are achieving theirgoals. Sales managers utilize a number of sources of formal and informal power to accom-plish these tasks.

Research confirms that sales managers who have strong leadership skills and whodevelop their sales representatives are more likely to have higher-performing sales forcesthan sales managers lacking these skills. Sales managers who adopt a transformationalleadership style of management focus on the needs and motives of their representativesand work to develop them. Sales managers with high levels of emotional intelligence havethe ability to understand and manage the emotions of other people.

Other leadership skills that have become more valued in sales managers are coaching,mentoring, and team-building. Coaching involves providing immediate feedback to yoursales representatives in a positive way. Serving as a role model and demonstrating thebehaviors you want your representatives to emulate is a powerful way to coach people. Tosuccessfully coach your representatives, they also need to believe they can trust you.Mentoring occurs when a senior member of a sales organization provides long-term careeradvice to a more junior member. This type of career guidance helps individuals gain newinsights about their fit and contributions to the firm. The ability to build and develop salesteams is another skill set sales managers are increasingly being called upon to master.Because sales forces become more geographically dispersed and products and services are



becoming too complex for a single individual to sell, sales representatives are increasinglyworking in teams to achieve their firm’s sales goals. In even the best virtual teams, how-ever, you can’t solely manage people electronically. There’s no substitute for personallycontacting your representative either in person or on the phone.

Questions and Problems

1. Describe a situation in which a sales manager would engage in supervisory behavior?When can sales reps benefit most from supervision? Why should sales managersconsider supervising a good investment of their time and efforts?

2. What activities are involved in managing a sales force?3. How is a sales manager involved with organizing and staffing the sales force?4. What bases of power available to a sales manager do you think are most effective and

why? What bases of power does your favorite instructor exhibit? What about yourleast favorite instructor? List some examples of instructors’ behaviors that illustrateeach type of power.

5. Management skills are something new sales managers need to develop. What aresome specific behaviors that they should engage in? What misperceptions do salesmanagers have about managing people?

6. Why is the concept of leadership of such importance to vice presidents of sales?What has caused their heightened concern?

7. How are transactional and transformational leadership approaches different and howare they displayed in a sales manager’s behaviors? What are some of the componentsof emotional intelligence? Who do you know that exhibits a high level of emotionalintelligence?

8. Imagine a situation in which your sales rep just had a poor sales call. What coachingprinciples should you make sure you follow as you provide the rep with feedback?How would you initiate such a conversation?

9. What is the value of having a mentor? Explain why you would or would not want tohave one as a sales representative. Why would a salesperson want to be a mentor if ittakes time away from selling to their clients?

10. Sales reps usually work independently. How would you encourage your reps to workas part of a team? What objections do you think they would have to being a teammember, and how might you counter them?

11. Consider the team projects you’ve worked on in school. What are some of thebehaviors you like to see your team members engage in? Do you believe your team members would behave differently in virtual teams?

Key Termscharismatic power 223coercive power 223emotional intelligence 228expert power 223informational power 223legitimate power 223mentoring 230project team 231

referent power 223reward power 223self-managed teams 231supervision 220transactional leadership 227transformational leadership 227virtual teams 232


Role Play

Outside Escapes

While she was in college, Gretchen Hutterli developed quite a reputation for the springbreak vacations she planned for her friends. By the time she graduated, she had startedCampus Getaways, a company that specialized in offering vacations to students. Gretchenrealized, however, the limitations of working only with this market segment (lots ofpromotional costs, nearly complete turnover of customers, and little loyalty). In anattempt to find more loyal and profitable customers, she developed a concept for a newcompany called Outside Escapes. Outside Escapes offered one-week vacations involvingactivities (rafting, kayaking, hiking, cycling, ziplining, and so forth) in exciting locationsthat ranged from the Grand Canyon to Costa Rica. Outside Escapes was marketed toyoung (usually single) businesspeople who enjoyed an exciting vacation with socialopportunities and could afford to spend several thousand dollars on a vacation forthemselves. Gretchen’s newest, most profitable division is Green Getaways. It ismarketed to organizations as a training retreat/team-building opportunity. Both divisionssell the same vacation (although the participants are never commingled) and use the samesales force.

Gretchen’s sales force has been modest in size, with three regional offices, each withfive to seven sales reps and a sales manager. Each region is organized roughly by timezones (eastern, central, mountain, and Pacific) and has a sales office, but most reps workin other cities and out of their offices. Selling involves inside (telephoning contacts) salesand outside work (making corporate contacts and presentations). Reps are paid a salaryand commission. Calls are forwarded to offices that are open, depending upon the timezone. Oftentimes a rep will begin working with a client in another time zone and then adifferent rep in the same time zone as the client will close the business. When thecompany’s offices were small, this was not a problem. However, because its sales forcehas been growing geographically, it has become an issue. Gretchen has announced thatshe has plans to increase the company’s sales by 25 percent for each of the next fouryears. Consequently, the problem is only likely to get worse unless it’s resolved. She has brought the company’s sales managers together to develop a plan.

AssignmentDivide into pairs. One of you should play the role of one sales manager who believes thatdividing the work in a team fashion will improve Outside Escape’s business. The secondperson should play the role of a sales manager who believes that each sales representativeshould work independently. Gretchen wants the two of you to develop a list ofadvantages/disadvantages of each of your approaches and suggestions on how you might proceed if your approach were implemented.

Caselet 10.1: Friend or Mentor? Deciding When toTake Action

It was spring, and Carol was waiting in a restaurant for Helen to pull up in her little redconvertible. Back when Helen was a rookie and her subordinate, Carol recalled howHelen had achieved a banner year and received a big bonus. She had used the bonus to buy the “car of her dreams.”




However, instead of pulling up in a little red convertible, Carol noticed Helen pulledup to the restaurant in a yellow taxi. “Where’s that hot car of yours?” Carol asked her oldemployee.

“Oh, it’s in the shop,” Helen replied, and she quickly moved on to get caught up onhow her friend and former boss had been since they last met about six months ago at theircompany’s fall sales meeting. Over the past several years, both women had moved onwithin the company. Carol had moved into another sales management position, and Helenhad moved into a position that handled larger accounts. However, the two women hadmanaged to stay in contact with one another and have dinner together twice a year priorto their semi-annual sales meeting.

Carol had never officially been asked to mentor Helen. However, over the yearsHelen had sought her advice when she had difficult decisions to make. Thus, thementoring relationship between them seemed to naturally evolve. Lately, however, Carolhad heard that Helen’s performance seemed to be slipping a bit. Other sales managerswere talking about how she had missed appointments and meetings and had not met herdeadlines. This certainly didn’t seem like the Helen Carol knew.

About halfway through dinner, Carol noticed that the bottle of wine she andHelen had been sharing was empty, although Carol had consumed only one glass.Although the food was a little slow in being served, the popular “reservations only”restaurant they were dining at seemed to live up to its reputation. Nonetheless, whenthe women were finally served their dessert, Helen suddenly and loudly berated thewaiter about his poor service. Carol was stunned. She had never seen Helen do such athing in the past.

Carol knew a new sales management position was opening up soon and that heropinion for a new candidate would be sought. As Helen ordered “after dinner” drinks for both of them, Carol began to reconsider recommending her for the position.

Questions1. Where should Carol’s loyalties lie? What do you think is going on with Helen?2. As her informal mentor, should Carol take it upon herself to ask Helen about her

performance and what’s causing it to decline? Or should she mind her ownbusiness?

3. What other actions should Carol consider taking?

Caselet 10.2: Teamwork?

The Walnut Creek Gazette started out as a small-town California newspaper. However,as the town of Walnut Creek, California, grew over the years, the paper’s circulationgrew, too. Nina Fong had worked her way up in the Gazette’s advertising department.Fong had started out as a sales assistant, became a customer service rep, followed bya team leader, and finally a sales manager. In her position she is responsible for seven,4-person teams.

The Gazette’s sales assistants spend most of their time on the phone identifying anddeveloping new accounts and then turning them over to account managers. Each team hastwo account managers who work in the field and personally contact clients. Customerservice representatives make sure the Gazette’s clients are satisfied with their publishedads. Team members are compensated based both on their individual performance and theproductivity of their teams as a whole.



The sales quota deadline for Nina’s teams is fast approaching. Nina has just receiveda phone call from Bruce Nygen. Nina knows Bruce. He is the manager of a new storemoving into the far edge of the Gazette’s southwest sales territory. He had previously e-mailed Nina to check into buying some ad space. He was considering severaladvertising options to help him achieve certain promotional objectives, and he wanted to see how the paper could assist him.

Bruce has just explained to Nina in his phone call to her that no one from the salesdepartment at the Gazette has contacted him. Nina is surprised. Lindsey Newman is acompetent, senior account rep in the Gazette’s southwest territory. Morgan Hendricks is a newer, less experienced representative who is still developing.

Nina is wrestling with the decision as to which account manager she should hand thelead to. She feels that someone as experienced as Lindsey should have already contactedBruce as a potential new client. But Morgan has recently lost two of her accounts becauseher clients were not satisfied with their ad buys and the customer responses theygenerated. Nina knows a large sale in this territory will push this particular team over its sales goal and add to everyone’s bonus, including her own.

Questions1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of handing the lead to Morgan, the newer

account manager?2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of handing the lead to Lindsey?3. How would you make this decision?4. How do you think your decision would affect the rest of the members on Lindsey’s

and Morgan’s team?

References

1. Priestland, Andreas, and Robert Hanig (2005). “Developing First-level Leaders,”Harvard Business Review (83)6: 111–120.

2. French, J. R. P., Jr., and B. H. Raven (1959). “The Bases of Social Power,” in D. Cartwright, ed., Studies in Social Power. Ann Arbor: University of MichiganInstitute for Social Research, pp. 150–167.

3. Hill, Linda A. (2007). “Becoming the Boss,” Harvard Business Review (85)1:48–56.

4. Hammers, Maryann, and Gerhard Gschwandtner (2004). “Tap into the 7 Qualities ofthe Best Sales Managers,” Selling Power (24)4: 61–66.

5. Bennis, Warren (2004). “The Seven Ages of the Leader,” Harvard Business Review(82)1.

6. Bossidy, Larry (2007). “What Your Leader Expects of You—And What You ShouldExpect In Return,” Harvard Business Review (85)4: 58–65.

7. Hammers, Maryann, and Gerhard Gschwandtner (2004). “Tap into the 7 Qualities ofthe Best Sales Managers,” Selling Power (24)4: 61–66.

8. Kennedy, William F. (2001). “Under New Management,” Selling Power (21)4: 71–74.9. Gschwandtner, Lisa (2001). “What Makes an Ideal Sales Manager,” Selling Power

(21)3: 52–59.10. Deeter-Schmelz, Dawn R., Karen Norman Kennedy, and Daniel J. Goebel (2002).

“Understanding Sales Manager Effectiveness: Linking Attributes to Sales ForceValues,” Industrial Marketing Management (31): 617–626.



11. Wellins, Richard S., Charles J. Cosentino, and Bradford Thomas (2004). Building aWinning Sales Force: A Sales Talent Optimization Study on Hiring and Development.Pittsburg: Development Dimension International.

12. Atkinson, Thomas (2004). How Sales Forces Sustain Competitive Advantage: SalesForce Research Report. Boston: The Forum Corporation of North America.

13. Northouse, Peter. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and Practice, 4th ed. ThousandOaks, CA: Sage Publishers.

14. Goleman, Daniel (1998). Working with Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam.15. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, p. 23.16. Goleman, 2000. “Leadership That Gets Results,” Harvard Business Review (78)2:

78–91.17. Goldman, op cit. “Leadership That Gets Results,” pp.18. Atkinson, Thomas (2004). How Sales Forces Sustain Competitive Advantage: Sales

Force Research Report. Boston: The Forum Corporation of North America.19. Hernez-Broome, Gina, and Richard L. Hughes (2004). “Leadership Development:

Past, Present, and Future,” Human Resource Planning (27)1: 24–32.20. “The Chally World Class Sales Excellence Researh Report” (2007). Whitepaper

produced by HR Chally Group. Dayton, OH.21. Craumer, Martha (December 2001). “How to Coach Your Employees,” Harvard

Management Communication Letter. Boston: Harvard Business School PublishingCorporation, pp. 1–5.

22. Rich, Gregory A. (1998). “The Constructs of Sales Coaching: Supervisory Feedback,Role Modeling and Trust,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management (18)1:52–63.

23. Hernez-Broome, and Hughes, “Leadership Development,” pp. 24–32.24. Bennis, “Seven Ages,” p. 48.25. Marchetti, Michele (2005). “A Helping Hand,” Sales & Marketing Management

(157)8: 12.26. Brashear, Thomas C., Danny N. Bellenger, James S. Boles, Hiram C. Barksdale, Jr.

(2006). “An Exploratory Study of the Relative Effectiveness of Different Types ofSales Force Mentors,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management (26)1: 7–18.

27. Jones, Eli, Andrea L. Dixon, Lawrence B. Chonko, and Joseph P. Cannon (2005).“Key Accounts and Team Selling: A Review, Framework, and Research Agenda,”Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management (25)2: 181–198.

28. Arnett, Dennis B., Barry A. Macy, and James B. Wilcox (2005). “The Role of CoreSelling Teams in Supplier-Buyer Relationships,” Journal of Personal Selling & SalesManagement (25)2: 181–198.

29. Kinni, Theodore (2007). “The Team Solution,” Selling Power (27)3: 27–29.30. Polzer, Jeffrey T. (2004). Creating Teams with an Edge. Boston: Harvard Business

School Press.31. Ibid. pp. 108–125.32. Bossidy, “What Your Leader Expects,” 58–65.33. Gordon, Jack (2005). “Do Your Virtual Teams Deliver Only Virtual Performance?”

Training (42)6: 20–25.34. Majchrzak, Ann, Arvind Malhotra, Jeffrey Stamps, and Jessica Lipnack (2004). “Can

Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?” Harvard Business Review (82)5: 131–137.35. Barrett, A., and J. Beeson (2002). Developing Business Leaders for 2010 (White

paper). New York: The Conference Board.


Documents

M10 TANN4120 01 SE C10 - usheproduction